Best Childhood Cartoon

This bracket is 141 animated series that ran on American television for kids, from the black-and-white years through 2010. Each one is represented by its opening titles, because that is the part nobody forgets. You can remember thirty seconds of a theme song long after every plot has gone.

The rule for getting in was renewal rather than fame: at least two seasons and at least twenty-six episodes. That admits shows that ran quietly for years and shuts out one-season curiosities, which is why some famous flops are missing and some forgotten workhorses are here. Franchises count once, so every reboot of a title sits behind the name people actually say out loud.

The hard part is that nostalgia does not compare. A theme you heard four hundred times before school beats a better-made show you caught twice on a sick day, and there is no way to correct for that. What comes out the other end is not the best cartoon. It is the one the most people could not vote against.